Caring for
the children of Haiti sometimes means finding adoptive homes for them in the
United States and other countries. Fon
dation Pour les Enfants d'Haiti has
over two decades of experience placing children in loving homes. The
adoption procedure in Haiti and the United States, as well as other
countries, has been designed to ensure the best placement for our children. FEH has found homes for Haitian children in the United States, Canada,
France, Spain, and Belgium.
When possible, we encourage adopting parents to come to Haiti to become
acquainted with their new child’s homeland and to allow the child to get to
know them before leaving Haiti.
We encourage adopting parents to remain in contact with FEH,
raising their Haitian child with knowledge and respect for their country
of origin.
United States Foundation for the Children of Haiti (USFCH) is not an
adoption agency. We work as a liaison between FEH and your adoption agency.
If you are considering adoption and would like to know more about working
with USFCH, please contact our Tulsa, OK office or e-mail FEH directly in
Haiti. Both addresses are provided below. If you do not have an adoption
agency, we suggest that you contact Dillon International, Inc.
Please understand, the adoption guidelines for Haiti are currently quite
strict. Childless couples and single women at least 35 years of age
are the only families eligible to adopt without a presidential waiver.
If a family has one or two adopted children, they have a good chance of
still being approved as well while families with biologically related
children don't. There was a new law pending that would allow
families with up to two birth children to adopt, but it has not yet
passed, and it is difficult to know when and if it will at this point.
The new law, if it were passed, would still give preference to childless
couples. The adoption process after a family has been matched with a
child has been taking between two and three years.
For current information about
adopting a child from Haiti, you may go to
www.dillonadopt.com/Haiti_screen.htm.
***Post-Earthquake
Adoption News:
News article form The New York Times, 1/20/2010:
53 Haitian Orphans Are Airlifted to U.S.
Now that the earthquake has occurred, we are not
sure how long it will be before the adoption process can resume for the
children previously available. Because of the loss of office
buildings involved in the adoption process on the Haiti side of things,
personnel and supplies, and so many things needed to to accomplish an
adoption, the adoption process may not be up and running for many, many
months. Other emergencies such as rescue efforts and providing
supplies of food, fuel, and medical supplies will be given priority.
The children who have been orphaned by the earthquake may not be available
for a year or two for adoptions to even begin.
Because so many family members are lost or separated,
getting families reunified is a first priority. The mass graves are
going to make it difficult to know what has happened to family members.
Also, the many people seeking medical care wherever they can find it will
also make it difficult to find people across the country of Haiti.
Children who have no birth family available to share the child's story
will have to go through a lengthy court process to verify that a proper
search was undertaken to find any remaining members of the birth family.
There will also be an appropriate waiting period to make sure that there
is not an extended birth family member who can take the child into their
home for care.
We will update this site about when adoption plans can
resume. If we discover a way to bring children out on humanitarian
parole, we will let you know. You may also go to the website for
Joint Council on International Children's Services,
www.jcics.org, or the website for
Dillon International, Inc.,
www.dillonadopt.com for more information.
